In High Heels
by Yuri-hime
Summary: When everything around you shatters into pieces, it takes everything within you and the helping hand of the one you hold most dear, to put it all back together again. Episode 4x04.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer** - I do not own _Rizzoli and Isles~_

**Author's Note** - So, last night's episode is now my absolute all-time fave~  
Protective Jane was on such wonderful display for the entire ep, and I absolutely loved it ^.^

Hope you all enjoy this story~ =3

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**In High Heels**

* * *

This just couldn't be happening...

This simply could **not** be happening...

Detective Jane Rizzoli's mind spun in dizzying circles, as the expression of horrified shock on Maura's face caused her to bend over herself, to look into the car at the face of their victim. Then when Frost picked up Maura's I.D. badge from the floor of the car and held it up in consternation for all to see, Jane felt her world tilt even further off its already unsteady axis.

This

Could

**NOT**

Be

Happening.

Jane took a moment to walk away with her hand covering her mouth, after she'd led Maura over to a bench to sit down.

She needed to _think_. There just _had_ to be a reasonable explanation for what was happening right now.

She went into a quick huddle with Frost, Korsak, and Cavanaugh, and the result of their discussion was unfortunately **not** promising. As Jane looked back over at Maura who looked so lost on the bench, she felt her heart break a little for what she was going to be forced to put her best friend through. Her best friend whom she'd _loved_ for almost as long as she's known her.

Jane Rizzoli decided right then and there that she was **not** going to allow Maura Isles, the woman she loved, to go to jail for murder. She promised herself that she would fix this god-awful mess.

She would do _everything_ within her power to keep Maura safe.

~o~o~o~

Walking into the interrogation room to question Maura, was one of the hardest things Jane had ever had to do in her life. Walking into that room knowing that Maura could have been _raped_ made Jane's stomach roil, and bile rise up to the back of her throat. When Maura quickly yanked off her jacket to reveal the bruising on her arms, all Jane wanted to do was jerk out of her chair, and beat down the asshole bastard who'd hurt her like that. But of course the asshole was already dead, and it was now Jane's job to prove that her best friend had not done the deed herself.

But it was _so_ hard to just sit in that chair, and not react the way she truly wanted to. She couldn't even go around the desk to pull Maura into her arms, and just hold her tightly against her body.

She couldn't even do something that simple for the woman she loved.

~o~o~o~

Maura felt so humiliated.

This was probably the most horrifyingly embarrassing moment of her life.

Here she was, the Chief Medical Examiner to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts...and she was being made to strip down completely naked like a common criminal for processing.

She wanted to cry. She really and truly did. She just couldn't believe that Jane was having to see her like this...that _Susie_ was having to see her like this. She used to dream during the deepest parts of the night, that she'd be able to show her body to Jane...stripped bare...skin exposed to her intensely-dark eyes...but not like _this_. Not so fully exposed to complete strangers 'guarding' her, and the assistant who she knew looked up to her. And certainly not to the woman she'd loved for so long.

Maura wished with her whole heart and soul that she could just crawl into a deep, dark hole and _never_ come back out. At least not until this whole horrifying experience was done and over with.

Jane wished she could cover Maura up...hide her away from the judging eyes of the guards, and even from the sad, sympathetic eyes of Susie Chang. This wasn't how she'd wanted to see Maura bare before her the first time. Hell, she'd never wanted Maura to have had to strip down like this _ever_. This was beyond humiliating for her friend, and Jane could see just how mortified Maura was by the whole ordeal, by the way her small shoulders seemed to fold even further in on themselves. The feeling of wrapping Maura up tightly in her arms, and keeping her safe and protected from all of this, swelled up to overflowing in Jane and it took _everything_ within her power, to keep her hands from reaching out to the slightly-shaking, half-naked woman before her.

She was failing utterly in keeping the woman she loved safe.

~o~o~o~

The taste of bile rose up again at the back of Jane's throat, as she watched Maura step out of the elevator flanked by her now ever-present guards, on her way to the hospital to be checked for signs of rape.

Jane couldn't even _think_ the word without feeling ill. If that sick sonofabitch had hurt Maura in such a way...Jane wasn't sure just _what_ she would do...but she would be a force to reckon with for a _long_ time to come, if Maura had been touched that way.

Maura looked so small to Jane as she spotted the dark-haired detective, and came over to stand before her. Her usually luxurious honey-gold locks looked lifeless, and the dark circles beneath her listless eyes coupled with the faded pallor of her skin, just made Maura looked even smaller than she already was. The urge to shove the guards away and just take Maura as far away as possible from all this, hit Jane with the force of a tidal wave and she just needed a few precious seconds to ground herself, before she was swept away by the powerful current of her emotions.

Maura wanted to touch Jane.

She wanted _so_ badly to reach out to the tall detective, wrap her arms around her waist, place her head against her chest, and just...breath Jane in. She felt like she was brittle glass trying to hold the water of all her feelings and emotions in. Just a small touch would shatter her into a thousand tiny pieces. She _needed_ Jane to fix this for her. She couldn't remember _anything_ from last night, and she needed Jane to put the clues together for her to get her out of this mess.

She trusted Jane...with every bit of her heart and soul. Jane would help her...Jane would keep her safe.

~o~o~o~

She'd just thrown Maura under a bus..._her own mother_, who supposedly thought of Maura as a 'second daughter', and considered Maura 'her business'...had just thrown Jane's best friend under a freaking, speeding, armour-plated _bus_.

Jane couldn't decide if what she was feeling, as she watched the video her mother had 'produced', was rage or raging disappointment in her mother. She decided that it was a bit of both, and watched silently as her mother left the room, after having her own hand in further incriminating the love of Jane's life.

Maura was _**family**_.

You do _not_ do what Angela Rizzoli had just done to Maura...you _don't_ feed family to the dogs. But that's just what her mother had done...and Jane wasn't sure she would ever be able to forgive her mother for it.

~o~o~o~

Jane had thought walking into the interrogation room to question her best friend for murder, was one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do in her life.

She hadn't had a clue...not a damn clue as to what _truly_ hard was...

Walking into Maura's home that night as a cop...as an officer of the law there to bring in a murder suspect, instead of being there as Maura's best friend as they prepared for a night of sharing pizza, beer, wine and laughter together was the single hardest, soul-breaking thing Jane had _ever_ had to do in her life.

She wanted to cry.

Her heart was breaking so rapidly as Maura rambled on adorably about Bass and his refusal to eat, while not having a damn clue that Jane wasn't there in her best friend capacity. No, she was there to take away the freedom of the woman she loved more than life itself. And when Maura finally turned around and her quick, analytical brain swiftly put together the pieces for the _real_ purpose of Jane's visit...Jane would forever swear that she actually _heard_ her heart break at the softly uttered, "oh no..." that slipped passed Maura's lips.

Jane Rizzoli had just arrested her best friend, and the woman she loved...for murder.

_She had utterly failed to keep Maura safe._

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To be continued...

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**AN** - Hope you all enjoyed. Please review~ ^.^


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note** - I want to say a deep and gratified _thank you_ to each and every single person who took the time to read, alert, fave, and most especially review _In High Heels: The Talk_. It was written as a place for me to vent my anger and frustration with Angela's horrible betrayal of Maura, and also a place I hoped would give others possibly feeling the same way, somewhere to vent themselves about it ^.^

I'm pleased that it went over so well. Again, thank you all for your wonderful responses =D

I hope that you all enjoy this story (and what I envisioned _should_ have happened in the actual episode ending =p), and thank you all again for being such awesome and amazing readers ^.^

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_Word vomit._

That's what was happening with her mouth Maura realized in horror, as she faced off against the prison inmate who kept accusing her of being a cop. She _wanted_ to stop...she really truly did. But she rambled when she was nervous. And being placed in prison for a murder she wasn't even sure she'd committed, was _way_ more than enough to make _anyone_ nervous...among any number of other unpleasant, negative feelings. So when the other woman's fist connected with her face, Maura _knew_ she should have seen it coming.

Both figuratively and literally.

After all, hadn't she just spent time training with Angela to be able to counter, block, and throw similar punches to this?

_God, she just wished Jane was by her side right now.  
_

Maura cupped her cheek and looked up with tears stinging in her eyes, at the woman who'd just sucker-punched her as the guards led her away. The woman kept screaming threats and obscenities at her even as she was being led away, and it was at that moment with her jaw throbbing, and stomach cramping from the elevated levels of stress she was experiencing, that it truly sunk in for Maura just how much trouble she was in.

_God Jane, please save me..._

"Paddy Doyle sends his regards."

Maura jumped slightly in surprised shock, at the unexpected words spoken by the female guard now standing before her.

"You need anything else, just ask for Mary Pat."

Maura nodded in numb shock as the female guard walked away, to see about getting some ice for the painful shiner now developing on her face.

Paddy Doyle...her _father_ had just sent his regards to his 'jailhouse' daughter.

Maura just barely bit back the slightly hysterical laughter, that threatened to bubble up and out from her lips.

_She **needed** Jane.  
_

And like an avenging angel when Jane swooped in later, and threatened every single orange-jumpsuit-clad inmate in the room, with a _very_ short life if they ever _dared_ to touch her again, Maura finally _got_ her Jane. And what a majestic Jane she was. Standing tall, eyes blazing, tone gravelly and low as it dealt out the ultimate ultimatum, Maura hadn't felt more cared for and protected in her life. She then quickly informed Jane about the powdered drug that had been blown into her face, the night everything had gone so horribly wrong for her.

Jane was _beyond_ furious.

When she saw the painful damage done to Maura's face by one of the inmates, she felt like throwing down her badge and taking her fists to the face of every single bitch in the room. She was seeing pure, murderous _red_ and when she threatened, to end the life of _anyone_ who dared touch Maura Isles again, she was being _deadly_ serious.

She just wanted to take Maura away from all of this.

It was an aching _need_ to do now.

She just wanted to press soft, soothing kisses against Maura's tender, bruised face and whisper loving reassurances into her ear. This whole damn mess of a situation had finally broken down the walls of Jane's resistance. If...no..._when_ she managed to free Maura, Jane _promised_ herself that she would _finally_ breach the walls she suspected, like herself, Maura had erected to keep the full intensity of her feelings hidden away...from both herself _and_ Jane.

Jane's thought processes were interrupted then by Maura saying with a bit of almost pride, that her mob boss _sperm donor_ Paddy Doyle had "put the word out."

Jane felt the blood in her veins run ice-cold, and her voice dropped to its lowest register, as she told Maura that that was _not_ a good thing. In fact to Jane, it was one of the absolute _worst_ things that she'd heard in an ever-growing list of _very_ bad things, she'd had to hear and deal with over the last couple of days.

Maura's already faint complexion paled even further at Jane's words, and the smaller woman looked up into Jane's worried brown eyes, and whispered fearfully, "just get me out of here, Jane."

Jane's heart contracted in pain at the desperate plea issued from the lips of the woman she loved more than life itself.

She would _not_ disappoint her again.

She _would_ get her out.

_She **would** free Maura._

~o~o~o~

It was all finally over.

The real killer literally handed over his murder weapon without a thought, and Jane was _finally_ able to end a couple of the absolute worst days of her life.

Then when Maura walked back into the precinct wearing that stunning blue dress, and smiling widely from cute dimpled cheek to cute dimpled cheek, Jane felt her whole world finally tilt fully back into place.

With a wide, bright smile of her own Jane walked up to Maura and pulled the M.E. into the tightest, warmest hug she could ever possibly give.

This was what it was all about. _This_ one single, solitary moment. Having Maura pressed so closely against her, smelling so wonderful and sweet, truly made Jane realize just how amazing it was to have Maura back again in her arms. So, she released a deeply-contented sigh, and didn't even bother fighting the urge to gently nuzzle her face against Maura's neck, not caring that they were both still standing in the middle of the police precinct, surrounded by family and friends.

Jane just didn't give a _damn_ anymore.

She'd almost lost Maura..._again_.

She wasn't going to waste any more time dithering away, when at any moment in time she could lose the love of her life. She then felt a slight shiver race down through Maura's body, as her lips lightly brushed across the soft skin of the doctor's neck, before she slowly pulled back to look down into Maura's brilliant, hazel-green eyes.

Maura looked back up curiously into Jane's eyes, then lightly licked her lip a bit nervously, as she continued to watch the play of emotions on Jane's face.

It was at the sight of that small, almost-erotic lick lip that Jane lost it.

Without any further thought or care for possible 'consequences', Jane leaned down and pressed her lips against the sweet-tasting, full lips of one Maura Isles.

And Maura responded to that kiss _quickly_.

It was the kiss she'd been waiting for her entire life...the one she hadn't even known she'd been missing, until one Jane Rizzoli strolled in with quiet confidence to share with her.

The quiet moan of pleasure that slipped through Maura's lips into Jane's mouth, almost caused the dark-haired woman's knees to buckle.

The hoots and whistles of the crowd still surrounding them barely registered, as they both continued to kiss like it was their final day together.

_Never_ again would they take any chances with each other, or the precious gift of love they now had with one another.

_Never_ again would they allow themselves to nearly lose the other.

They had this chance now to be truly happy, and to build a life together on the bedrock of that happiness.

They were going to take this chance...this opportunity...and run with it...

_And never look back._

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**~Fin~**

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**AN** - Really hope you all enjoyed. Please review~ ^.^


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